The integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced exponential growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs, where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that may be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs.
Such scaling down has also increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs and, for these advances to be realized, similar developments in IC processing and manufacturing are needed. For example, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has become an important technique for implementing high-resolution lithography processes. While existing EUV lithography apparatuses and methods have been generally adequate, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect. For example, EUV from EUV lithography system may generate electron blur in the resist layer, reducing the resolution. Thus, improvements in this aspect are desired.